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Skeptic Summary #141

Climate change, CNN, simulations, activism, an old challenge, superlative and more!

Climate change hits Mars - More hot air.

CNN warns against Iraq pullout - Lone CNN analyst identifies Iraq pullout pitfalls. Skeptics are enraged.

Those useless global warming simulations! - Whoooooops.

Editor’s Choice: I found some things of interest on activist judges - Read up, if you haven’t already.

From the Archives: The three point challenge, #1 - hippy4christ gets a lesson in chronology.

The Best Page in the Universe - Now, it’s not that I agree with all of what is on this site or how it’s said, but hey… it really is worth a look-see. Like, I got sucked in for about three or four hours. You know what gets me? I am probably the last person on earth to see the site I just picked…

Sunday: eBay auctioning; Voltaire making funny Star Trek songs (not work-safe lyrics, demands YouTube login); Swoopy is on the mend after orthodontry; stealing web-content. Also: movies with actors outside their normal casting; hip-replacements; unclean glasses; Seattle Society for Sensible Explanations; Infidel Guy and Skepticality soon to be each other’s guests.

Wednesday: The night started with talk of Dr. Mabuse going to Dragon*Con coming this April, if he can get the funding. Topics bounced from one to another till we finally landed on, what else but, bad jokes. This lead into math jokes, followed by a poor attempt at a pun which began an argument over the proper spelling of “monotonely” or “monotonically.” Members of chat witnessed the world’s first math apologetics. As the bad jokes found their way back into the conversation, some about certain SFN staff members getting fired came up. The night ended with a serious discussion on baloney medical claims, at least when compared to the rest of chat.

Come chat with us.

jaimerika
SpartanAngel
Negate7o4

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Bad Science

Discovery’s Disturbing Legacy

Popular Crackpot Podcast — Mind Control, Part I

Popular Crackpot Podcast — Mind Control, Part II

Secular rally in Turkey draws 700,000

Skeptic’s Dictionary Newsletter 78

Skepticality #051 — Interview: Lynne Kelly

Top 25 Urban Legends

What’s New by Bob Park

Got some skeptic news items? Send them to us, and we’ll think about adding them.

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal, by Lynne Kelly.



“Can a human being really spontaneously burst into flames? Just how deadly is the Bermuda Triangle? And what’s the real story behind all those alien abductions?

The answers to these and many other questions lie within the covers of The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal. Guaranteed to liven up any dinner party, this delightful, highly readable book offers color photographs and scientific case-by-case explanations for twenty-seven phenomena that appear to defy known science, including ghosts and poltergeists, the predictions of Nostradamus, and yogic levitation, among many others.

Speaking directly to the reader, and always with respect for those who believe, Kelly gives us a bite-size, nonacademic approach to debunking hugely popular superstitions and mysteries. Did you know that you, too, can bend spoons and read minds? This book will show you how.”

— Book Description

Forum Topics:

1. Climate change hits Mars (786 views)
2. Religion versus vaccines — sound familiar? (498 views)
3. Earthlike planet (468 views)
4. Dutch Ark set to launch (452 views)
5. Baghdad Tech massacre (319 views)
6. Olympic myth? (219 views)
7. CNN warns against Iraq pullout (199 views)
8. Owl on the dollar bill… (190 views)
9. We've been waiting for this (177 views)
10. Political hacks water down global warming report (176 views)

Articles:

1. Evolving a Venom or Two (277 views)
2. Miracle Thaw — The Bogus Miracle (88 views)
3. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony! (61 views)
4. Cold Reading (56 views)
5. The Bible Answer Man (43 views)
6. Skeptic Summary #140 (41 views)
7. Miracle Thaw Tray (34 views)
8. The Bible’s Bad Fruits (31 views)
9. Is the Speed of Light Slowing Down? (31 views)
10. Preaching that Anti-Evolution Propaganda (29 views)

There were 6,843 daily visitors this week.

Forum Topics:

1. Political hacks water down global warming report (2,730 views)
2. Baghdad Tech massacre (1,653 views)
3. Surface of the Sun, part 13 (1,380 views)
4. Religion versus vaccines — sound familiar? (1,243 views)
5. New ‘Impossible’ findings on the Sun (1,220 views)
6. Owl on the dollar bill… (944 views)
7. Olympic myth? (919 views)
8. A little more civility, please… (717 views)
9. Really creepy illusions (702 views)
10. What is a skeptic? (672 views)
11. Stern replaces Imus (645 views)
12. Global warming: the cold, hard facts? (576 views)
13. The water cooler (561 views)
14. Flying cars stifled by politics, politics, and war (549 views)
15. Does skepticism default to atheism? (534 views)
16. Wrong images of Saturn (436 views)
17. Earthlike planet (415 views)
18. Trivial questions (392 views)
19. The Pope don’t like Darwin! (386 views)
20. The ignotist and Occam arguments (378 views)

Articles:

1. Evolving a Venom or Two (1,303 views)
2. Kent Hovind is a Kwazy Kweationist (408 views)
3. Miracle Thaw — The Bogus Miracle (339 views)
4. Cold Reading (221 views)
5. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony! (216 views)
6. The Bible Answer Man (201 views)
7. Evidence Cited as Hard Proof of the Existence of Satanic Cults (173 views)
8. The Bible’s Bad Fruits (162 views)
9. Miracle Thaw Tray (161 views)
10. TAM4 (140 views)
11. Tommy Debates the Bible Answer man (131 views)
12. Preaching that Anti-Evolution Propaganda (115 views)
13. Evolution, Scientology Style (108 views)
14. Is the Speed of Light Slowing Down? (107 views)
15. Mesmer, Casino Monkey, and Video Sex (97 views)
16. Spam Alert (84 views)
17. Evolution is a Lie (84 views)
18. Dr. Dino doesn’t like our Jack Chick spoof! (83 views)
19. American Scientist Review (March/April 1998) (81 views)
20. Astrology (77 views)

There were 27,922 daily visitors in April.